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On Sunday evening, October 16, 1859 John Brown (1800-1859) raided the Federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia with his 21 man "army of liberation" hoping to spark a slave insurrection. A day and a half later Brown was captured and most of his men had been killed or wounded. He was brought to trial in nearby Charles Town and was found guilty of treason, conspiring with slaves to rebel, and murder. He was hanged on December 2, 1859. This ode to Brown was written by Phoebe Cary (1824-1871), an American poet who, along with her sister Alice, was active in the women's rights movement. The Gazette & Courier was the newspaper in Greenfield, Massachusetts, from July 20, 1841 until June 24, 1932. Before 1841 the newspaper's name changed quite frequently, with Gazette a frequent part of the title.